Louisa POV.
Player Lounge, A Few Minutes Earlier.
After Jay and the twins went inside the main locker, the survivors spread out across the lounge, slumping into chairs and couches to catch their breath.
"We are so lucky," Louisa sighed as she dropped into a couch.
She shuddered. Everything still felt unreal.
If not for Jay and his friends, she and Sylvi would've been done for.
'No, if it wasn't for dad and Caleb, we wouldn't even have the chance to escape at all.'
As she recalled their sacrifice, her heart clenched and tears started welling up in her eyes. But she quickly got ahold of herself and pushed them back.
'Not now." It wasn't the time to break down. They were safe now, and she needed to recover some strength. There was no telling when things would go south again.
"Hmm," Sylvi mumbled, her head hung down.
"Are you okay? Is there anything wrong?" Louisa asked as she straightened her back and looked at Sylvi with concern.
Sylvi seemed preoccupied by something.
"I'm sorry," Sylvi whispered, her head still hung down
"I don't understand. You are scaring me, Sylvi," Louisa asked, her concern deepening.
"I was bitten… One of those things bit me," Sylvi whispered, her body trembling lightly.
"What? How could that happen?" Louisa asked, her voice rising a little.
"That's not funny, Sylvi. Please…. Tell me you are joking right?" she begged, her voice cracking. It was impossible. It had to be.
Sylvi didn't reply. She just shook her head in denial.
But that simple gesture was enough to completely crush any hope Louisa still held.
'Why?' She wanted to scream. Did her brother sacrifice in vain? Should he have escaped instead of saving Sylvi?
Slowly, she felt her mind spiraling down. Dozens of questions echoing within.
'There has to be a way. Something we can do,' she thought, clinging to whatever little hope she could find.
But even that felt empty.
As she sat, overwhelmed, a young man walked towards them.
"Is there anything wrong?" he asked looking suspiciously at the somehow pale Sylvi.
He'd come over because he had overheard some bits of their conversation. He wasn't sure what they were talking about. But some of the things he heard seemed concerning.
"What does it have to do with you?" Louisa snapped as she woke up from her daze and jumped up between Sylvi and the young man.
"Ian, what are you doing?" Hendrick asked.
"They are hiding something," Ian explained. If before he wasn't sure, he was now convinced there was something wrong.
"No, we are hiding nothing," Louisa refuted immediately
"See?" Ian said, gesturing to her. "If they weren't hiding anything, why would she react like that?"
"No," Louisa repeated.
"Show us her arm then," he demanded, pointing at Sylvi's right arm, which she was now clutching behind her back.
Neither girl moved. Sylvi kept her eyes lowered, silent, while Louisa continued to shield her.
Faced with such a reaction, Ian didn't continue to argue with them. With a frown, he reached out to Sylvi and tried to pull her arm.
But that was without counting Louisa who immediately reacted and shoved him back.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" she hissed like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
By now, every survivor in the lounge had turned to watch. Most stood back, more interested in the show than anything. Only Hendrick moved forward.
"Ian, stop." Hendrick said as he grabbed his brother's hand. However, the latter was unwilling to cooperate and was still trying to reach Sylvi.
Fortunately, before the situation could escalate further, Jay and the twins entered the lounge. Immediately the argument stilled and a heavy silence fell upon the room.
"Why are you stopping? Go on! Show me what you were trying to do," Lexie asked as she glared at Ian.
"Care to explain what is going on here? Or were you planning to keep yelling until every monster in the building found us?" Jay added, looking at the skinny boy with an expressionless face.
"Sorry. I didn't want to cause a scene. It's them." Ian stiffened and took a few steps back.
He then pointed at the Louisa and Sylvi. "Look! She was bitten. It's obvious she's going to turn sooner or later and put us all in danger. But, they don't..."
Louisa cut him off, and asked through gritted teeth. "How can you be so sure she is going to turn?"
"See? She admitted it. She was really bitten. And isn't that always what happens in movies?" Ian retorted his expression one of triumph.
As he heard him Jay couldn't help but suppress a small chuckle.
To be honest, Ian wasn't entirely wrong. Their current circumstances were so unreal that they could as well be in a movie.
But the way Ian said it, was ridiculous. It was as if it was the most obvious and rational conclusion in the world. In reality, it wasn't that easy.
"You are crazy! We aren't in a fucking movie," Louisa stared at him, her face pale with rage.
"And what if we are? It's not like whatever is happening now is normal either. Look around you and tell me," he said, his arms spread open. "Or could it be that, you are so selfish and blind you can't see it?"
"Ian, stop this nonsense." Hendrick ordered, smacking Ian's head.
"But, brother," Ian complained, unwilling to give up.
"Sorry for that," Hendrick said as he looked apologetically at Jay.
"I think the little guy is too stressed," Jay said with a smile that wasn't one.
"Though, I hope there won't be a next time. Crystal?" He added as he casually patted Ian's shoulder.
"Hiss… Yeah," Ian gasped and took a step back.
With a nod Jay stopped paying attention to him and turned his attention towards the two girls. Recalling the whole situation, he couldn't help but sigh.
If there was one thing to say about this whole ordeal it was that ignorance was the illusion of knowledge.
To some extent, the way Ian reacted wasn't wrong. As he said, their current situation did look like something straight out of a zombie movie. And in those kinds of movies, a bite meant death or worse. So, it wasn't wrong for Ian to infer that it was the case in their situation too.
What was wrong was to act so aggressively based solely on that assumption.
As for the girls, even if they won't admit it, they probably had a similar train of thoughts. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so much on the defensive.
Speaking of them, now that he paid more attention to Sylvi, he could tell she wasn't all right. Her face was pale, fine beads of sweat covered her brow, and she looked like she might collapse with a single push.
'Let's get this over with,' Jay thought looking at Louisa.
She was the petite girl who thanked him earlier.
Just minutes ago, she had looked at him with admiration. Now, it was as if he were her enemy.
But he didn't blame her. Still, he did find it annoying. He could already tell he'd have to waste some time pacifying her.
But to his surprise, Sylvi acted before she could say anything.
She reached out and gently placed a hand on Louisa's shoulder. "Louisa, that's enough. Thank you."
"Sylvi? What are you trying to do?" Louisa asked, confused.
Sylvi looked at her friend and gently shook her head. Louisa tried to stay strong, but Sylvi could feel how tense she became after Jay and the twins were involved.
Sylvi could understand her. Deep down, everyone was afraid of them.
It wasn't just about their strength, but it was also related to how they acted.
The creatures they fought might have looked like monsters, but they were still human once. And Jay and the twins had killed so many without hesitation.
Sylvi knew she couldn't do that. That was the difference between them. That was why people like her couldn't survive in a world like this.
'I'm too weak to survive this,' Sylvi thought, pushing Louisa aside and stepping forward.
Even if she was doomed, she could at least stop Louisa from being dragged down with her.
"You're quite realist," Jay remarked, looking into Sylvi's eyes. Inside, he didn't see any signs of reluctance, he just saw peace and determination. Even he had to respect that. Not many people could face the idea of death so calmly.
"Please," Sylvi whispered. "Don't blame Louisa. She was only trying to protect me."
"No!" Louisa cried, gripping her hand. "You don't have to do this!"
Sylvi shook her head. "Louisa… don't make this harder."
Jay watched the small drama silently, then smiled to himself. The bond between these two was something rare in times like this. It was more normal for people to become selfish and let their dark side get the better of them.
However, those two stayed true to their feelings and showed an admirable bond. What was unfortunate however was that they misunderstood his intentions.
"Calm down," Jay said, his voice even. "Nobody is doing anything to anyone."
Both girls froze, eyes wide. They had expected the worst. But Jay, apparently, had a different opinion.
"Wait! You can't…" Ian shouted only to be silenced as Hendrick clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Sorry," Hendrick muttered quickly.
"I can't?" Jay raised an eyebrow, then turned to Ian. "I wonder what you would've done if your brother was in her place."
Ian opened his mouth, then shut it again. He slumped into a chair and stared at the floor, silent.
"Doesn't seem so obvious now uh?" Jay shook his head, not too surprised by Ian's reaction. It was always easy to do the right thing when you weren't the ones paying the price.
"Sylvi, right? How are you feeling?" he inquired as he turned back to Sylvi.
"I have seen better day," she whispered.
"Hmm. Can I see it?" he asked.
"Okay."
She nodded and pulled her arms from her back lifting the sleeve of her sweatshirt.
As soon as she did, a few gasps could be heard from the crowd.
'This looks bad,' Jay muttered as he looked at her arm.
A chunk of flesh was missing from just below her elbow, teeth marks still visible. The torn flesh had turned pale, with veins crawling up her arm toward her shoulder and down to her hand.
"See! I told you," Ian muttered.
"Shut up!" Hendrick cursed, smacking Ian on the head again. At this point, he couldn't understand what had gotten into his brother. Was he blind to the fact that he was openly antagonizing Jay?
Jay ignored them and focused on Sylvi instead "Did you check the system interface?"
"What?" Sylvi asked, caught off guard by the question. Of all the things she expected Jay to ask after showing him her wound, this wasn't even on the list.
"I will take that for a no," Jay said, not too surprised. "You can see the weird infinity symbol at the corner of your eye, right?" he asked, his voice slightly louder. This time, he wasn't just speaking to her, but addressing everyone in the lounge.
"Yeah." Sylvi nodded. She had noticed it before. But with everything happening, it was the last of her concerns. If Jay hadn't mentioned it, she probably would have kept ignoring it.
"Good. Try to focus on it, then," he instructed.
With a nod, Sylvi followed Jay's instruction. The next instant she gasped and unconsciously took a step back.
"Looks like you're in," Jay said, noticing her eyes glaze over. "Can you tell me how many health points you have?"
"Ah! Health points! It says 39/80… Is that bad?"
'Hmm, she already lost half of her HP. But that doesn't tell us what is happening.'
"What is your status?" he asked, ignoring her question for now.
Sylvi scanned the screen and replied, "it says tired, anxious, injured, and tainted."
"Tainted," Jay repeated, instantly focusing on that last item. Unlike the other three that could be easily explained, this one was most likely caused by the bite. Still, knowing that didn't change their predicament.
"Check your event log. Just focus on the tab or tap it," he instructed. Maybe they would find a little more information on her condition there.
After some struggle, Sylvi eventually managed to open the tab. Then, as she read the interface, her face turned pale, and she stared down, motionless.
{Zombie (Lv. 1) has bitten you. You have been tainted.}
{Status Effect – Tainted: You will lose 4 HP per minute for the next 30 minutes.}
"What's going on? What did you see?" Louisa asked, unable to hold herself back.
Sylvi looked up and forced a smile. "Don't worry. It is nothing."
"You sure?" Louisa asked with a frown.
"Yeah, everything is fine," Sylvi said with a smile. Then, she walked toward Jay and whispered, "Can we leave here, please? I don't want her to see me die."
Jay was quiet for a moment, then nodded. The two moved a few steps away while Louisa watched, tense and confused.
"What did it say?"
"That I'd lose four health points per minute for thirty minutes," Sylvi's answered, her voice trembling.
Jay quickly did the math. That was 120 HP. She only has eighty. They didn't even have to wait for the timer to run out.
"There is no hope," she whispered, tears dripping down her eyes. "Don't blame Louisa. It was all my fault. Please help me look after her."
Jay took a deep breath and considered their options.
This looked like a death sentence. But that was if things were normal. And luckily, they weren't.
"There might be something we can try," he said slowly.